A Chinese restaurant in southwest Moscow is being investigated on suspicion of rounding up dogs on the street, killing them and passing their cooked meat off to customers as lamb, city police said Monday.

Two residents went to police after seeing suspicious activity near the restaurant, located at 88 Prospekt Vernadskogo, near the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station, police spokeswoman Irina Volk said.

"They reported seeing a truck pull up to the restaurant and restaurant employees unloading bags in which something was moving and whining," Volk said.

After the tip-off, undercover police officers went and posed as clients, ordering a number of dishes from the restaurant, which is located in a dormitory near Moscow State Pedagogical University and caters primarily to Chinese and Vietnamese clientele, as well as local students, Volk said.

"Tests showed that the meat being sold as lamb was actually dog meat," Volk said.

Most of the dogs were strays, and many were sick, but several of the dogs likely had owners and had merely gotten lost, she said.

The dog meat was sold as lamb to most of the restaurant's clients, but it was advertised as dog to its Chinese clientele, she said.

The consumption of dog meat is common in some parts of Asia -- particularly China and the Koreas.

Police have opened a criminal investigation in connection with the sale of dangerous food items, punishable by up to three years in prison, and could also open an investigation into charges of cruelty to animals, which carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.